


Cause or Effect

by sekaiseifuku



Category: Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-02 23:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2829437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sekaiseifuku/pseuds/sekaiseifuku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanzeon had a complicated relationship with hir lotus pond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cause or Effect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aegistheia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aegistheia/gifts).



> How happy was I to see that someone had a Kanzeon Bosatsu prompt? So happy that I absolutely had to fill it, despite the short time frame, of course! While this may have been rushed, I still hope you enjoy it - Happy Yuletide!
> 
> Many thanks to karanguni for the last-minute beta.

Kanzeon had a complicated relationship with hir lotus pond. If se had to describe it, "love/hate" is likely the first phrase that would come to mind.

As se sat in hir throne and peered past the lilies into the shifting waters, Kanzeon's consciousness shifted in turn. Inside were thousands of millions of threads of fate, each so intricately linked with the other than even the tiniest of shifts caused an avalanche of change compounding impossibly fast.

Keeping up with it all was frustrating as hell.

"Your Mercifulness," a voice called from behind hir.

"Yes?" se answered distractedly, watching the jumble of images attempt to coalesce into something a bit more recognizable.

"Your tea," the voice responded, but se paid it no heed.

There was something in there – something important – but the damned thing just wasn’t cooperating. To this day, se still didn't know if the pond was a reflection of hirself or se of it. In either case, at this point in time, Kanzeon was working hirself into a fine state of annoyance. No matter how hard se tried, se simply couldn’t seem to make any _sense_ of it today.

Se faintly registered one of the servants setting a steaming cup beside her, then heard the clink of a plate holding the inevitable sweet beancake, the scourge of hir existence. It didn’t matter that se hadn’t so much as touched the damned things in all the time se’d been in the palace; they kept appearing, day after day after day.

The servants were as reliable as clockwork, their schedules something on which se had long since relied on as a means by which to know exactly where in the endless flow of days and weeks se was. Without them, it would be very easy to lose track of time entirely, but with that reliability came an almost crushing sense of predictability.

When se'd ascended as a Bosatsu, se'd inherited the palace and everything with it, a complement to the title. Hir family were noble enough that se was no stranger to luxury, but when se’d first arrived Kanzeon had freely and openly let anyone who would listen know that things in the palace were just a little too stuffy for hir tastes. Today, however -- like all things fortunate enough to age -- Kanzeon had grown into it all and se was as much a part of the palace life as anything else. Even the damned beancakes.

The work, though… it had taken a little longer for hir to adapt on that front. There was a reason the position didn't come with a job description, after all. If it did, no one in their right mind would take it, karma be damned. There had been no guidance, no one to tell hir how exactly to sort through the truly overwhelming stream of information se was barraged with on a daily basis. Learning to pick and choose, to determine what exactly was the right balance of action versus inaction... well, the less said on exactly how much trial and error Kanzeon's mastery of that had involved, the better.

The pond helped.

Sometimes.

Truth be told, it was a gigantic pain in the ass sometimes, but such was the nature of the whole situation, after all.

"Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama." A voice called hir attention away from the pond and back to what passed as the present for hir.

“What?” Se looked up suddenly, realizing that for some reason the servant was still there.

He was standing immediately beside the table, looking down at hir with what very much appeared to be an expression of disapproval. It was so unexpected that it took hir absolutely off-guard.

"... _your tea_ ," he said, for all intents and purposes a paragon of decorum. But there it was, clear as day -- something in the tone of his voice and tilt of his head that made it seem very much like he was _scolding_ hir.

Kanzeon hadn't been scolded in more than ten thousand years.

 _Well, well, well…_ The corner of hir mouth quirked.

"You're quite the forward one, aren't you..."

The servant's expression shifted suddenly, the steely look in his eyes quickly being replaced by a hint of panic, as if he'd just realized exactly how he was coming across.

"F..for... forgive me," he stuttered, "I... I only..."

"Oh, don't ruin it by groveling," se said, reaching across the table and taking the cup of tea in hand.

It was, naturally, absolute perfection. It was the precise temperature and shade of green that indicated the ideal balance of water temperature and steeping time had been achieved. Not a single fragment of a leaf or stem had made their way into the mix to mar the uniform color or the striking contrast between the deep green of the tea and the stark white of the cup.

It was perfectly executed and mind-numbingly boring.

"Do you do it like this all the time?" se asked suddenly, the question out of hir mouth before se even realized it.

"P... pardon?"

"The tea," se clarified. "Do you always make it like this?"

"It is the proper way," the servant said, as though that was all the explanation necessary.

"Mmm, perhaps… but do you make it for yourself like this? Even at home?"

He blinked once, then twice, as a faint hint of pink appeared on his high cheekbones for no apparent reason. "I… prefer coffee," he admitted after a short silence.

“Really?” Kanzeon raised an eyebrow as se took a sip of the tea. Now _that_ was unexpected. Coffee was a commodity that was fairly hard to come by, seeing how it had to be imported from Down Below. The guy had to have a pretty large set of cojones to admit something like that.

“How very modern of you,” se replied with a smirk. There was something about this servant that was strangely... charming. 

And really, it was very much unlike hir to have not noticed that before now.

"I... if you will forgive my forwardness," he blurted suddenly, almost certainly in an attempt to steer the conversation away from his admitted consumption of imported beverages of questionable legality. "I would like to offer my most sincere congratulations on the recent addition to Your esteemed family."

"Ah, yes…” Kanzeon replied, “… the blessed bambino.” Se chuckled softly as se shook hir head. “Poor little Konzen-kun’s gonna be in for one hell of a childhood.” It was no family secret that hir eldest brother was a jackass.

And as if by prompted by that very thought, Kanzeon felt something come together in the pond, coalescing in its depths.

“Oh…” The word was formed by the sharp intake of hir breath. Se set the cup of tea back on the table and leaned forward in an attempt to catch a glimpse. “Is _that_ what it is…?”

Most of the time, looking into the pond was a passive experience for Kanzeon, much like a leisurely walk through the vast groves of trees at the foot of hir palace. Other, rarer times, exploration of the threads of fate required a more hands-on approach, a conscious focus of hir considerable attention. This time, however, the moment se began to hone in on whatever it was that was coming together deep in the pond, it metamorphosed into a huge, all-encompassing psychic wave that surged forward and pulled hir consciousness under.

The impressions left behind by the countless iterations of fate toppled on top of each other much faster than se could keep track.

 

flashes of long red hair the burning smell of ozone

a piercing hollowness, a sorrow without beginning or end

pain  
fury  
confusion  
all in the golden gaze of a heretic

 

cigarette smoke  
the dry smell of dust from rubber tires crunching over a dirt road

winning with a straight flush, battered cards laid on a stained table

a sour, underripe orange

raw, unrestrained power  
greater than all the denizens of Tenkai combined

calloused fingers running across the well-worn pages of a favorite book and the sound of a unfamiliar voice reading aloud

                                                                    sakura falling  
                                                                                      the bright sound of a child  
                                                                                                                          dancing in the wind

taste of blood  
Copper

cold

 

\--

Kanzeon didn’t know how long it took to make hir way out of the psychic maelstrom of the pond, but when se did, se was utterly exhausted. The first thing se noticed was that the soft cushion of the throne had done nothing to prevent the ache in hir bottom caused by sitting for however long se had been out. As hir surroundings came back into focus, se noted the stiffness in hir back and a pounding in hir head that generally only followed a truly epic bender involving dragon wine and one of the visiting kings.

The sun had sunk low enough in the sky that it was casting long shadows across the pond, which, to any observer – including Kanzeon – now seemed nothing more than a small body of water filled with lotus blossoms.

To anyone else, it would appear nothing at all had changed. The soft wind still blew, the sakura still fell, and the faint sound of birdsong still carried on the breeze. But what Kanzeon had seen...

"Damn," se breathed, reclining back into the throne and rubbing hir temple. There was so much, se couldn't make any sense of it. Truth be told, se didn't have the slightest clue where to even begin piecing together what se'd just been shown. There was one thing se did know, though---

"We're in for one hell of a ride," se said, shaking hir head and laughing softly under hir breath.

Whether that was good or bad remained to be seen.

Se reached over and grabbed hir cup of tea, draining it in one long swallow. The now-cool liquid tasted terrible, but worked wonders on hir dry throat. When se set it back down on the table, se realized quite suddenly that something was unexpectedly, wonderfully wrong.

_No beancake._

In its place, resting on the small china plate were two matching apple slices, perfectly cored and cut into delicate floral shapes. And what very few beings knew was that there was nothing in Tenkai or from Down Below that Kanzeon enjoyed more than a crisp, fresh apple.

Se reached out and took the largest just as one of the female servants entered the yard to hir left.

"Excuse me," se called out, hir voice carrying across the open space as se popped the apple into hir mouth and motioned for the woman to approach.

After the requisite groveling had been dealt with, Kanzeon managed to convince the poor woman to rise.

"Who was the servant who brought this?" Se tilted hir head toward the remaining apple.

"My deepest apologies," the woman managed to stammer out. "He will be dealt with!"

Kanzeon couldn't help rolling hir eyes, just a teensy bit.

"Sweetie, calm down. We can't have you giving yourself an aneurysm, now can we?" Se was going to have to do something about the nerves around the palace. It really was getting ridiculous. "There will be no dealing with anyone, I simply want to know his name."

"His name?” the woman asked, confused. “Jiroushin, Your Mercifulness. His name is Jiroushin."


End file.
